Chinese company buys Skyscanner for 15 billion

A jet approaches landing as travelers pass through Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on the day before Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, California, U.S. November 23, 2016. REUTERS/David McNew

China’s biggest travel operator, Ctrip, paid NOK 14.7 billion ($1.7 billion) for the British search-engine, Skyscanner.

The company confirmed the purchase, which was largely paid in cash.

Ctrip is listed on the ‘NASDAQ’ stock-market, and is partly owned by the Chinese search-engine Baidu.

Ctrip, like Skyscanner, is a search engine for flights, hotels and car rentals.

‘Ctrip is the market leader in China, and is a company from whom we can learn a lot’, said Skyscanner CEO, Garth Williams. The company has about 60 million monthly users, most of them in Europe.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today